Adjustable golf club



Jan. 8, 1929.

J. A. NOVAK ET AL ADJUSTABLE GOLF CLUB Filed April 15, 1926 7 F'IE..E..

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INVEN-TOHS Joseph KlNova/r FZzZnC. F/sher lg ag 4,; nronnsvs UHHHUH 2. N

to so Lor-r w D5625 Patented Jan. 8, 1929.

UNITED" STATES- PATENTJOFFICIE.

JOSEPH A. NOVAK AND FRANKLIN C. FISHER, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, AS- M I SIGNORS, BY DIRECT AND MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO NOVAK CLUB INC., 03' SAN v FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, A CORPORATION OF NEVADA.

ADJUSTABLE eoLr cram.

Application filed April 15, 1926. Serial No. 102,108.

I This invention relates generally to a golf club and particularly to a club which is provided with an adjustable head.

Golf clubs have previously been con- 5 structed with heads pivotally mounted so that the loft may be varied. In this way it has been proposed to make a single club perform the functions of several clubs. These clubs however were impractical since 1 they failed to take into account the fact that the angle of lie should be consistent with the angle of loft. In other words, the club might have the correct angle of lie when adjusted to be used as a 'midiron but would 1 not have the correct lie when adjusted for a putter or a niblick.

It is an object of this invention to devise an adjustable golf club in which the angle oflie will be maintained consistent with the angle of loft. i It is a further object of this invention to provide means in' an adjustable golf club for maintaining the angle of lie substantially constant whilethe loft of'the striking face is being varied from thato'f a driving iron .to that of a mashie.

Further objects of this invention will appear from the following description in. which we have set forth the preferred embodiment of our invention. It-is -to be-understood that the scope of the invention is to be determined by the terms of the appended claims and the state of the prior art.

Referring to thed rawings:

Figure 1 is a sideelevational view of a golf club constructed in accordance with this invention, certain parts being shown in section.

Fig. 2 is a detail showing a portion of the interlocking means for securing the head of the club to the shaft.

Fig. 3 is a detail view showing parts of the locking mechanism.

Figs. 4 to 8 inclusive are cross sectional views taken along the line a -a of Fig. 1 showing several adjusted positions of the striking face.

Fig. 9 is a detail View of the club head as it appears looking parallel to the striking face.

Fig. 10 is a curve showing diagrammatically the manner in which the lie is main-. tained consistent for different angles of loft.

The golf club with which this invention shaft of the club. Extending from this position the shank portion 19 is provided shank portion 19 is. provided with external has been incorporated comprises generally-t5 r a blade 10 having a flat striking face 11 and a sole 12. The heel of the blade is pro- "vided with an enlarged end portion 13 having a plane face 14 which is parallel to the plane face 14 there is an integral-projection 15 which is provided with a head 16. The

end portion 13 is preferably provided with an upper edge 17 which is arcuate in shape and provided with a series of serrations. The shank 18 of the club is preferably constructed in two parts, the lower portion 19 being pivotally secured to the club blade 10' and the upper part 20 being rotatable with respect to the part 19 in order to lock the blade of the club in any adjusted position. The lower shank portion 19 is provided with a plane face 21 which is similar in contour to the plane face 14 upon the heel of the blade. A recess 22 is formed within-the shank ortion 19 to receive the projection 15, the ower portion of this recess having an arcuate groove 23 within which the head 16 is adapted 'tovinterlock. The shank portion 19 is also formed with an "arcuate recess 261:0 receive the upper serrated edge 17 of theend portion 13, the lip 27 which is thus-formed upon the shank blade is rotated to such a position that it may be lifted relative to the shank portion 19 then the projection head 16 may be lifted from the recess 23 to-permit the. blade and shank to beseparated.

For locking the blade in any one adjusted with an axial bore 30 within which is slidably disposed a locking pin 31. The lower end of the pin 31 is provided with a serrated head 32 for engagement with the serratededge 17, while the upper portion is provided with a retaining ring 33 whereby the pin is retained within the shank-portion 19. In order to force the pin 31 into locking engagement with the serrated edge 17 the left hand threads 34 adapted to engage the internal threads 35 of the upper shank portion 20 whereby the inner endof the bore in the. shank portion 20 is brought 3 into abutting contact with the upper end of the pin 31 to force the'same into locking engagement. Thus it is seen that by this arrange-' ment the blade of the club ma be locked inany adjusted osition merely rotation of the shaft 36, 't is shaft being 0 course fixed within the shank portion 20.

With a club of the above constructionthe ivotal axis 1 of the blade will necessarily substantially normal to the axis 2 of the shaft and inclined to the sole of the blade, since the projection 15 forms a bearing for the pivotal connection between the lade and the shank. The angle of lie of such a club is indicated in Fig. 1 and is measured by the angle between the axis 2 of the shaft and the chord of contact 3 of the sole 12. The angle of loft of such a club may be measured by the angle which the striking face makes with respect to a plane parallelv to the plane of the striking face shown in edge e effect of inclining the ivotal axis to the plane of the striking face as been illustrated in Figs. 4 to 8 inclusive. These views were taken alon the line H of Fi 1 looking parallel to t e plane of the striking face. Such a line a-a has also been shown in Fig. 9, and the inner section of line aa with the axis lrgives the point about which rotates the su ace intersected by the plane of a-a. Taking 0 as this point, then the advancing 40 of the striking face will move in the arc of a circle with O as the center and R as a radius as the loft is varied. Naturally the club will have maximum lie when the 4 degrees which is t e correct angle for a driving iron. In'this position the sole has dropped down to the base line 4 indicating that the lie has been increased. In'Fi .6 the loft is a proximately that for a midiron or about 25 ii, in which position the lie has remained substantially constant with the maximum value.

angle of lie substantiall If the sole of the club were made substan-- tially fiat then'the lie of the club would not be sufiicient when the loft is made about 30 degrees as shown in Fi 7, which is correct value fora mashie. is has been over come by providing a'fillet 41 on'the sole of the blade to the rear ofthe forward edge 40.

This fillet or curved sole maintains a line of contact to the rear of edge 40 so that the effective lie of the club is maintained practically constant for changes in loft from a driving iron to a mashie. Fig. 8 shows the loft at substantially theright value for a niblick, in which tially less.

The relationship between the angles of loft and lie for this club is illustrated in Fig. 10 in which angles of loft have been plotted against angles of lie. The curve rises from zero loft to a maximum value of lie of a loft of about 10 degrees, remains practically horizontal between 10 de and 30 degrees and again drops rapidly to a. minimum lie at 50'degrees 10 t. It is to be understood that this curve represents what may be termed consistency of lie for the range of adjustment of the club. However it is obvious that the curve "may be modifi to suit the tastes of different individuals by varying the inclination of axis 1 or by varying the are of fillet 41, or both.

We claim: 4 v1. A golf club comprisinga blade having a striking face, means for adjusting the angle of loft of said strikin face, and means for automatically causing t e angle of lie of the club to remain constant throu bout a substantial variation in the an le 0 loft.

2. A-golf club comprising a lade having a striking face, means for adjusting the angle of loft of said strikin face, and means for causing the an le of he to remain substantiall constant or variations in the angle of loft cm a driving iron to a mashie and to decrease when varied from a m'ashie to a niblick.

3. A golf club comprising a blade having a sole and a striking face, means for pivot-- ally securing said'blade to ashaft, the axis of'said pivot being inclined to the line of contact of the sole with the ground, and means for automatically maintaining the angle of lie of the club substantially constant fora substantial variation iii the angle of loft of the striking face.

4. A golf club comprising a blade having a sole and a striking face, means for pivotally securing said blade to a shaft, the axis of said pivot being perpendicular to the axis of the s aft, and means for maintaining the constant when changing the angle of 10 t from that of a midiron to that of a mashie. 5 5. A golf club comprising a blade having a sole and a striking face, means for pivot? position the lie is substanso III ally securing said blade to a shaft on an axis inclined to the line of contact of the sole with the ground whereby a change in the angle of loft will tend to cause a corresponding change in the angle of lie, and compensating means for maintaining the lie of the club'hubstantially constant for a plurality of loft angles, but to permit a substantial variation in the angle of lie when the loft is varied from a midiron to a niblick.

6. A golf club comprising a blade having a sole and a striking face, means for pivotally securing said blade to a shaft on an axis inclined to the line of contact of the sole with the ground, and a fillet to the rear of the striking face adapted to form a line of contact with the ground for certain angles of loft.

7. A golf club comprising a blade having a sole and a plane striking face, means for pivotally securing said blade to a shaft on an axis inclined to the line of contact of the sole with the ground and to the plane of the striking face, and a fillet to the rear of the striking face adapted to form a line of confagt with the ground for certain angles of 8. A golf club comprising a blade having a sole and a striking face, means for pivotally securing said blade to a shaft, the axis of the pivot being inclined to the sole of the blade, and means for maintaining the angle of lie substantially constant when changing the angle of loft from-that of a midiron to that of a mashie.

9. A golf club comprising a blade having a sole and a striking face, means for pivotally securing said blade to a shaft, theaxis of the pivot being inclined to the sole of the blade, and means for causing the angle of lie to be substantially the same for the lnidiron and mashie positions of the blade.

10. A golf club comprising a shank, a blade adjustable with-respect to said shank and having a striking face, and means for automatically effecting a predetermined decrease in the angle of lie as the angle of to the angle of a niblick.

11 A golf club comprisin a shank, a blade pivotally and ad ustab y secured to said shank and having a striking face, and

JOSEPH A. NOVAKQ FRANKLIN o. FISHER.

loft is varied from the angle of a mashie l 

